Director Cary Fukunaga Runs Away From ‘It’

Director Cary Fukunaga is an up-and-coming director with an impressive resume behind-the-camera on films such as the immigration drama Sin Nombre and a Gothic re-imagining of Jane Eyre. His most high-profile work was directing episodes of HBO’s acclaimed series True Detective. Fukunaga was set to direct the movie adaptation of Stephen King’s novel It, but that no longer seems to be the case.

According to Deadline, Fukunaga has left his gig directing New Line’s upcoming adaptation. New Line and the director are going their separate ways owing to conflicts over budget, derived at least in part from creative differences, sources say.

This puts the production in an awkward place; shooting was scheduled to start in mid-June. To keep on track, the studio is going to have to find a new helmer soon. However, reports have it that the studio is holding firm on a $30 million budget, but submitted script drafts would have required much more funding and that even at this late date, a final draft has not been approved. There has been no word from New Line on either Fukunaga’s replacement, or how this shake-up might affect the production.

The film is based on Stephen King’s sprawling 1986 novel about a group of preteens terrorized by a malevolent entity that prays on children, called “It”. The group narrowly defeats the monster, but find themselves facing it again as adults. The monster appears mainly in the form of a clown calling itself Pennywise. The book was previously adapted for a 1990 TV miniseries on ABC; Tim Curry starred as the monster.